Here we are comparing two cameras with different body types: Sony RX1R is a Large Sensor Compact camera with a 24.0MP Full frame sensor whereas Olympus E-M1 II is a Pro Mirrorless camera with a 20.0MP Four Thirds sensor. Comparing an interchangeble lens camera to a fixed lens camera is a bit tricky but we will do our best to make this a fair comparison. Fortunately, you can't go wrong with any of these cameras as we rank them amongst Top 10 cameras in their classes. Sony RX1R is ranked #9 out of 46 Large Sensor Compact cameras with an overall score of 75 whereas Olympus E-M1 II is ranked #9 out of 30 Pro Mirrorless cameras with an overall score of 89.

Let's have a brief look at the main features of Sony RX1R and Olympus E-M1 II before getting into our more detailed comparison.

Below you can see the front view size comparison of Sony RX1R and Olympus E-M1 II. Sony RX1R is 21mm narrower and 26mm shorter than Olympus E-M1 II but it is also 3mm thicker. As you can tell, actually this is not a fair size comparison since Sony RX1R has a built-in lens but Olympus E-M1 II doesn't. Once you put a lens on E-M1 II, its thickness will increase significantly.

Now lets look at the top view comparison of Sony RX1R and Olympus E-M1 II.

Weight is another important factor especially when deciding on a camera that you want to carry with you all day.
Sony RX1R is significantly lighter (92g ) than the Olympus E-M1 II which may become a big advantage especially on long walking trips.

Again, this comparison may not be very useful in real life as we are comparing the weight of a camera with a built-in lens to the body-only weight of an interchangeable lens camera. Once you put a lens on E-M1 II, the total kit will weigh much higher.

Another difference between these two cameras is that Sony RX1R's sensor lacks anti-alias (Low-Pass) filter. Removing anti-alias filter increases the sharpness and level of detail but at the same time, it increases the chance of moire occurring in certain scenes.

Below you can see the RX1R and E-M1 II sensor size comparison.

As seen above, Sony RX1R has a 3.8x Larger sensor area than Olympus E-M1 II. Larger sensors give photographer more control on the depth of field and blurry background compared to smaller sensor when shot in same focal length and aperture.

What types of Photography are Sony RX1R and Olympus E-M1 II Good for?

In this section, we rank and compare Sony RX1R and Olympus E-M1 II for five different photography types in order to make your decision process easier in case you are specifically interested in one or more of these areas.

Sony RX1R for Portrait Photography

GOOD

Olympus E-M1 II for Portrait Photography

GOOD

Large Full frame (35.8 x 23.9 mm) sensor Very High Resolution Sensor: 24.0MP External Flash Shoe Optional External Viewfinder No Image Stabilization Not so good Ergonomics&Handling Read the details

You may have already made your decision about which camera suits better for your needs and your budget so far but in case you wonder how we rated Sony RX1R and Olympus E-M1 II, below you can find their scores in five different aspects.
Our Decision Algorithm dynamically scores cameras using 63 different specs, current price and DxO Mark scores (where possible) in order to make a more objective and consistent comparison.

Here is a summary of how Sony RX1R and Olympus E-M1 II scores compare:

Sony RX1R

Imaging

Features

Value

Portability

Overall

Ranked #8 out of 44 in Large sensor compact camerasRanked #119 out of 1131 in all Cameras

Olympus E-M1 II

Imaging

Features

Value

Portability

Overall

Ranked #6 out of 49 in SLR-style mirrorless camerasRanked #15 out of 1131 in all Cameras

Olympus E-M1 II has a higher Overall Score than the Sony RX1R and would be our choice if we have to decide between these two cameras.